Catering Chef jobs in Essex

Job Title: Chef

Contract: Permanent

Working Hours: Monday – Friday – 7:30am – 3pm (30 min lunch break)

Salary: Grade 5 (pro rata 35 hrs)

Location: Kelvedon Park

Closing Date: 15th October 2026

The Role

An incredible opportunity to join our on-site Catering team at our Fire and Rescue Headquarters. Our friendly and inclusive team are searching for Chef to join the team to provide serving and cleaning duties in connection with catering arrangements.

What You Will Be Working On

• Carrying out duties required to deliver a Catering and Hospitality service at our Service HQ
• Preparing and serving food to the canteen users and guests, handling money/till work
• Reviewing stock levels and associated reports
• Assisting with the preparation and ordering of food as required, assisting with booking hospitality
• Assist with the maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene standards
• To ensure that attitudes and behaviours displayed in the food preparation and service areas are reflective of an appropriate commercial catering facility
• Positively contribute to a safe working environment

What Are We Looking For?

Our ideal candidate would have

• Level 2 standard of educations (eg GCSE)
• Basic Food Hygiene Certificate (essential)
• Experience of working within the Catering industry (desirable)
• Ability to work flexibly
• Good communicator
• Experience in customer service

If you are an internal candidate, you must have discussed your application with your line manager and confirmed with them there are no outstanding issues of conduct or performance. This will be verified prior to shortlisting.

How to apply

You will be required to submit a CV detailing a minimum of five years employment and / or education history, along with a supporting statement of no more than 750 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria detailed in the Person Specification.

You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count of your supporting statement should not exceed 750 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.

You may attach separate documents (such as qualifications) should you wish. Your CV and additional documents will be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).

Assessment and selection:

The assessment and selection approach will be:

Stage 1

Application & shortlisting (assessment of your supporting statement will be made against the essential criteria) between 16 - 21 October.

Stage 2

Role specific panel interview. Interviews are expected to be held on 27 October. Shortlisted candidates will be allocated one interview date.

Should you wish to have an informal discussion with regards to the role, please contact Catering.Kelvedon@essex-fire.gov.uk

Our Culture and Benefits

Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.

You can find out more about our benefits at https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment/benefits

Important Information for Firefighter Pension Scheme Pensioner

If you are currently in receipt of a pension from the Firefighter Pension Scheme, please note that taking up this role may affect your pension. Under pension abatement rules, if your earnings in this role, when combined with your pension, exceed your pre-retirement salary (adjusted for inflation), your pension may be reduced.

For further guidance, please contact our Pensions team on 01376 576799 or email mailbox.pensions@essex-fire.gov.uk.

Safeguarding

Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.

You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.

The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.

This role will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Disability Confident

We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.

As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.

Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.

Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.

Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact Equality.Diversity@essex-fire.gov.uk

You are also able to raise any queries or requests for support, including any adjustments you may require, at any stage of the process by email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk

You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies and application processes via www.essex-fire.gov.uk/join-essex-fire

Pay: £32,046.00-£34,811.00 per year

Work Location: In person